Bolivian Baroque: Music from the Missions | April 2026

Florilegium and the Arakaendar Bolivia Choir performing Fuera, Fuera! Haganles lugar! for the album Bolivian Baroque, Vol.3: Music from the Missions and La Plata

Deep in the jungles of Eastern Bolivia there stands a breathtaking series of settlements founded during the 17th and 18th centuries. In this remote region of Chiquitania, close to the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Jesuit missionaries once worked with indigenous communities to build churches of architectural and cultural distinction, many of which have since been restored by Hans Roth and are now classified as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today these churches are beautiful, reflective spaces that surround travellers with a blend of local and European Christian motifs, wood painted with gold leaf and natural pigments.

The Jesuits also sparked an interest in learning and collecting music for worship, a great deal of which was written by anonymous local composers. From masses and motets to keyboard music, these fascinating works became central to the cultural life of the local populations. Once considered lost, the manuscripts’ rediscovery in the modern era provides an unparalleled glimpse into the past, shedding light on the compositional skills of the local people and the importance of music-making in their lives. 

There are few more intense cultural experiences than the Festival of Renaissance Baroque Music de Chiquitos, which takes place every two years both to celebrate this music and introduce it to a wider audience. In 2005, Chair and Head of Historical Performance at the Royal College of Music and ACE Tour Director, Ashley Solomon, founded the Arakaendar Bolivia Choir and Baroque Orchestra – the only orchestra using Baroque period instruments to a professional standard – and these ensembles broadcast internationally, perform regularly all over the world and during the festival itself. The event is part of a wider programme of education and cultural exchange, with graduates returning to Bolivia to teach the next generation alongside masterclasses led by Ashley Solomon and students from the RCM.

Our tour has been designed in collaboration with Ashley to take full advantage of the range of performances on offer, as well as allowing participants to explore the mission churches themselves, important collections and wider cultural highlights. Music is, naturally, at the heart of the itinerary, and together the festival performances will form a chain leading us from Santa Cruz through San Javier, Concepción and San Ignacio to San Rafael and San José de Chiquitos. San Javier will include a visit to its museum of musical instruments, while at Concepción Cathedral we will explore the archives of original manuscripts and the Museo Misional, and the church of San Rafael will delight us with its beautiful architecture and intricate carvings.

Many of the mission churches will welcome us for evening concerts, bringing the unique manuscripts and the history of these wonderful spaces and their communities to life. Not only this, but our itinerary will include opportunities to meet key individuals involved in the foundation and running of the festival, including the Festival Director, Father Piotr Nawrot, and the President of Association for Art and Culture in Bolivia.

While the full festival programme will not be announced until much later in 2025, the music is always of a very high standard, varied and balanced across the span of the event. We have shaped this itinerary to complement periods of travel with longer stretches based in one location, busier portions with time for rest and reflection. We will spend our first few nights in Santa Cruz itself, where we will take time to rest before exploring historical and cultural sites alongside the rich flora and fauna at the city’s Botanical Garden, as well as two performances. We will then move onto overnight stays in San Javier, San Ignacio de Velasco and San José de Chiquitos, before returning to Santa Cruz for one final concert.

From Santa Cruz, we will journey to the UNESCO World Heritage centre of Sucre, whose cathedral is home to a treasure trove of original manuscripts of Gregorian chant. Here we will also discover the Casa de la Libertad, where Bolivia’s Declaration of Independence was signed, and explore the relaxed, picturesque streets full of gleaming white arches and bell towers, intriguing museums and leafy parks.  

We will stay in a variety of specially selected hotels of a comfortable quality. While the facilities in some hotels will not match the standards usually encountered in western countries, they will be welcoming and well-located. 

This tour will be led by Ashley Solomon, FRAM, FRCM, Chair and Head of Historical Performance at the Royal College of Music and Director of Baroque ensemble Florilegium. As a result of his commitment to editing and performing music from the Mission Churches of Chiquitos and Moxos Indians in Bolivia, Ashley was the first European to be awarded the coveted Hans Roth Prize in 2008.